CAREER: Relating Micellar Structure to Aggregate Properties in Polymerization of Wormlike Micelles

我有三个职业目标;开发一个积极的研究计划，旨在回答有关复杂流体动力学的基本问题以及这些动力学对宏观现象的影响，在卡内基梅隆大学的化学工程课程中开发强大的复杂流体流变学和聚合物加工组件，并在当地工业与本科生和研究生课程之间建立密切联系，努力使学生了解聚合物加工和复杂流体工业所面临的各种问题。 卡耐基梅隆大学提供了一个最佳的环境，让我通过它的各种跨学科的研究和教育计划来发展这些研究和教育目标。 我为复杂流体工程中心（CFE）研究中心和胶体、聚合物和表面（CPS）教育项目提供流变学方面的专业知识。在本提案中，概述了我的研究小组目前在胶束动力学方面的令人兴奋的工作扩展到蠕虫状表面活性剂组装体的聚合。 凝聚在蠕虫状胶束（或表面活性剂聚集体）表面的抗衡离子的聚合为在溶液中形成各向异性纳米粒子提供了一种新的途径。 这些圆柱形颗粒的半径为几纳米，长度为几纳米到几百纳米。 这些聚电解质-表面活性剂聚集体的两亲性质允许它们将疏水性化合物溶解到水性介质中。 这种性质对于去污、药物输送、分离和水净化等应用至关重要。由这些各向异性颗粒的长度产生的新特征是它们具有充当流变改性剂、交联以形成两亲性凝胶和在浓缩时形成液晶相或更高级相的潜力。 如果没有通过反应控制纳米颗粒形态的能力，这些潜在的应用都无法实现。 驱动所提出的研究的假设是，抗衡离子组合物可用于控制蠕虫状胶束溶液的结构，并且控制可用于通过抗衡离子的聚合产生新型高纵横比聚合物-表面活性剂聚集体。 目的是定量地了解蠕虫状胶束体系的胶束组成与聚合聚集体性质之间的关系。 该研究的第二个目标是调查的可行性，控制结构和离聚物共聚物组成使用这种机制和一系列新颖的带电，各向异性的纳米粒子的胶体和结构studies.Carnegie梅隆大学的发展是明确致力于卓越的教育，我努力继续这一趋势。在所有课程中，我强调基础知识在现代工程问题中的应用，并让学生接触进入化学工程领域所需的计算工具。 一个具体的教育目标是利用我在复杂的流体流变学和聚合物加工的背景，以填补课程的空白。 我通过本科实验室模块，高级课程的开发和本科研究将聚合物加工和流变学纳入课程。 我通过实验室模块的工业联系，以及在我自己的实验室中，通过工业驱动的本科研究项目，让本科化学工程专业的学生接触工业聚合物加工。

ABSTRACTCTS-0092967Carnegie-MellonLynnm WalkerI have three career goals; to develop an active research program aimed at answering fundamental questions about the dynamics of complex fluids and the influence of those dynamics on macroscopic phenomena, to develop a strong complex fluid rheology and polymer processing component in the chemical engineering curriculum at Carnegie Mellon, and to develop strong links between local industry and the undergraduate and graduate programs in an effort to expose students to the types of problems faced by the polymer processing and complex fluids industries. Carnegie Mellon provides an optimal environment for me to develop these research and education goals through its variety ofinterdisciplinary research and education programs. I provide the rheology expertise to the Center for Complex Fluid Engineering (CFE) research center and Colloids, Polymers and Surfaces (CPS) education program.In this proposal, an exciting extension of current work on micelle dynamics in my research group to the polymerization of wormlike surfactant assemblies is outlined. The polymerization of counterions condensed on the surface of wormlike micelles (or surfactant aggregates) offers a novel approach to the formation of anisotropic nano-particles in solution. These cylindrical particles have radii of a few nanometers and lengths ranging from a few to hundreds of nanometers. The amphiphilic nature of these polyelectrolyte-surfactant aggregates allows them to solubilize hydrophobic compounds into aqueous media. This property is vital for applications in detergency, drug delivery, separations and water purification. The novel feature arising from the length of these anisotropic particles is that they have the potential to act as rheological modifiers, be cross-linked to form amphiphilic gels and to form liquid crystalline or higher order phases when concentrated. None of these potential applications can be realized without the ability to control the morphology of the nanoparticles through reaction. The hypothesis that drives the proposed research is that that counterion composition can be used to control the structure of wormlike micelle solutions and that control can be utilized to generate novel high aspect ratio polymer-surfactant aggregates through polymerization of counterions. The goal is a quantitative understanding of the relationship between counterion composition of wormlike micelle systems and properties of the polymerized aggregates. Secondary goals of the research are investigations of the feasibility of controlling polyelectrolyte structure and ionomeric copolymer composition using this mechanism and the development of a series of novel charged, anisotropic nanoparticles for colloidal and structural studies.Carnegie Mellon is clearly committed to excellence in education and I strive to continue that trend. In all courses, I stress the application of fundamentals to modern engineering problems and expose students to the computational tools necessary to enter into the chemical engineering field. A specific educational goal is to utilize my background in complex fluid rheology and polymer processing to fill that gap in the curriculum. I am incorporating polymer processing and rheology into the curriculum through undergraduate laboratory modules, development of advanced courses and undergraduate research . I am exposing undergraduate chemical engineering students to industrial polymer processing through industrial links for the laboratory modules and, in my own laboratory, through industry-driven undergraduate research projects.